


Weapons of Clairvoyance

by emobirdfics



Series: Weapons of Clairvoyance [1]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic! at the Disco, Taking Back Sunday
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dreams, F/M, Fake your Death, I killed a bunch of nameless characters, I killed a character, Mentions of Murder, Necromancy, Overthrowing evil corporations, Psychic Abilities, Shapeshifting, Telekinesis, magical abilities, pyrokinetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-08-29 11:36:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16743232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emobirdfics/pseuds/emobirdfics
Summary: You and Gerard team up with some familiar faces against an evil corporation threatening them for who they are.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Each chapter will include a song recommendation for listening while reading. For this chapter, I recommend Shadows Alive by Daniel Davies
> 
> Cross posted on my tumblr robinrunsfiction.

_You were working in your front yard, putting up Halloween decorations as fall had just begun and it was your favorite time of year. The sky was grey and threatening to rain, but you were excited to be outside anyway. Suddenly you heard a city bus rumble up the street. You turned to look, and wait, where did that guy just come from? The bus didn’t stop, but you could have sworn you hadn’t seen anyone come up the road. He had his back to you, standing at the edge of your yard in a black leather jacket and dark jeans, his long black hair blowing gently in the cool fall breeze._

_You went back to work attaching the cloth ghosts to the tree branch. Glancing over your shoulder again you noticed a neighbor come out of his house and was talking to the stranger like they has been friends for ages. But when you looked back, you could have sworn he had short black hair, wasn’t it just almost to his shoulders? You shook the thought from your mind, maybe you were dehydrated, or needed more coffee. They both glanced over at you, noticing you noticing them, and you hastily went back to work on a plastic skeleton._

_Your neighbor was walking back into his house when you stole another look. Red hair! And long again! What was happening? You closed your eyes, pressing your palms against your eyelids. Who was this person? His sudden arrival, the way he kept changing as if by magic, and against all reason, you felt almost magnetically attracted to him, like you were meant to find each other. Opening your eyes, you glanced around and now was he coming over to you? And his hair is most certainly white and very short again._

_"Hello, I suppose it's time I finally introduced myself. I'm Gerard."_

_"(YN)" you replied._

_"I know," he said with a devilish smirk. A voice in your head screamed a warning, pleading you to at least demand answers, but something within you didn't care, throwing all caution to the wind. You didn't care if this magical being had been following you, watching you, waiting for you. Whatever spell he had put you under when he appeared in the yard was more than fine with you and you’d follow him anywhere._

You sat up with a start, sweat rolling down your face. You looked around your dark room and then rushed to the window and looked out. The tree in your front yard was bare, waiting for the Halloween decorations you had in the box in your living room. You planned to put them up once it had stopped raining, which it had been for days now.

You hadn't expected to have the same dream three nights in a row, the stranger with the magical hair named Gerard showing up, knowing who you are. You grabbed your book of dream symbols and looked up the meaning of recurring dreams. It said the meaning of recurring dreams is you have a problem you haven’t yet addressed, but that meant nothing to you. The only problem you had was this vivid dream happening over and over, so you shut the light off again and attempted to get back to sleep. Gerard’s hazel eyes pierced through your thoughts until your alarm went off a few hours later.

That afternoon the sky was grey and getting darker as the day progressed, but you were determined to get your Halloween decorations hung up. You had pulled on your thick black leggings, sneakers and your fleece jacket over a long sleeve shirt to stay warm against the miserable weather. You set about your work, but every time a car went up the street you felt the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

You heard a door slam and saw your neighbor across the street had come out and was puttering around his yard. You gulped, a feeling of déjà vu coming over you. The wind picked up and you thought you heard the roll of thunder in the distance. Out of the corner of your eye you saw a crow swoop out a nearby tree. 

You turned back to your work, determined to finish before it started to storm when you heard it, the afternoon bus lumbering up the road. Almost involuntarily, you turned to see the figure with long black hair, wearing a leather jacket facing the street. The bus hadn't stopped, and no car had pulled up. It truly was like he had dropped out of the sky.

You focused on the plastic skeleton in your hand, fingers trembling, fumbling to connect the string around the branch. As you pleaded with yourself to keep focused, a crack of thunder split the air, startling you right off the step stool you were using, and you landed flat out on your back with a thud.

You opened your eyes and those haunting hazel eyes stared back.

"Hello, I suppose it's time I finally introduced myself. I'm Gerard." He said helping you to sit up, plucking a leaf from your hair.

"I know, I'm (YN)" you replied.

"Perfect," he said with that same smirk you saw before.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended listening: Maya The Psychic by Gerard Way

All common sense would have said run away screaming. Lock your door, change your name, call the cops, but you were clearly past the point of common sense, or even imagination, so you invited him in and brewed a pot of coffee.

"So... this is weird. The literal man of my dreams shows up exactly as I saw in my dreams the last few nights" you said, letting the words hang in air. The sound of the coffee maker and rain against the roof filling the silence.

"I thought you might think that. The simplest explanation is I need your help. There is an organization that appears to be trying to eliminate people with certain abilities or harnessing the power for their gain. We’re still trying to pinpoint exactly is what’s going on, but I was told you would be able to help."

"Isn't that like those X Men comics?" You asked setting down the mug in front of him as you sat down with your mug across the table.

"We aren't mutants, we're talking magic and other gifts."

"So Harry Potter? Or Sabrina the Teenage Witch?" You joked. You could see a hint of annoyance flicker in his eyes for a moment before he let out a chuckle.

"(YN) it's no coincidence I appeared in your dreams the last few nights. You're a seer," he said leaning toward you. "Think about all those times that something seemed a little familiar, those déjà vu moments, you had seen them before."

You sat back in thought about what he just said. You always believed you were just weird because you had a crazy good memory, almost as if you knew a piece of information before you had even consciously learned it. Or because the things you would see in dreams sometimes came to fruition, like the time your friend hurt his wrist in gym class. Everyone looked at you like you were nuts when you said you had seen it happening a week before in a dream.

"I just thought I was weird. Or that everyone else was afraid of sounding weird, so they never told me that the same thing happened to them. I didn’t really believe it when they said they never had things like this happen to them."

"You aren't weird, well maybe you are, but that's ok. We're all a little weird,” he said with a smile.

You nodded. "But how do I know you're a part of the good side?"

"If they had gotten to you first, you would be in a cell, or possibly dead. My brother witnessed it firsthand."

"What is his... ability?" You asked.

"Same as mine, we can shape shift."

You paused and considered what he just told you. "So that's how you appeared out of nowhere! The crow!"

"You got it, Sugar. That's how my brother got out, no one thought twice about the spider that crawled right out." He said with a laugh and you laughed too. Something within believed this shapeshifting stranger, something within you knew he was being true. What he said made sense, and your instincts clearly more accurate than you previously could have realized.

"I have to ask though, how did you know where to find me?"

"A seer named John told us approximately where you were, and I went looking. I’ve kept an eye on you for a while, but once I knew you were who we were looking for, well, here I am."

"You were watching me?" You asked sitting back with an eyebrow raised.

"I didn’t want to invade your privacy, it was just enough to make sure we had the right lead." Gerard said quickly.

You laughed lightly, shaking your head. It was just another weird layer on the already bizarre day, but you weren't really surprised. "If you say so," you replied. "What's the plan then? Am I safe here?"

Before Gerard could answer there was a hammering knock on your front door.

"No, we have to go." He said grabbing your hand and pulling you out your back door.

You and Gerard crept as quickly and quietly as you could through your neighbor's backyards. No one seemed to be following you as you finally made your way out to the side street where Gerard had parked his car.

"Sweet ride," you said as you dove in the passenger seat of vintage muscle car. "How far do we need to go?"

"Our place is about 20 miles out of town," he said taking off down the road.

You imagined what you'd tell your friends. ‘Ha! I'm not crazy, I'm magical! I'm gonna save other magical people. And I ran off with this good looking shapeshifter who appeared in my dreams and who drove us out into the country without telling anyone where I was going _!’_ The logical part of your brain tried to scream loud enough for you to hear that this is crazy! You're acting crazy! But you didn't care. You knew you had to trust Gerard. Somehow it was the only thing that made sense recently.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song recommendation: The World Is Ugly by My Chemical Romance

The rain was still pouring down as you arrived at the dark old two story house that was set back from the road, a row of trees blocking the view.

"How do you know they haven't followed us? Or have us surveilled?" You asked as he parked.

"We don’t think they realize how much we know about them. They don’t realize we’re all working together."

"So we have the jump on them?"

"For now." He replied as you ran to the door and he let you both in. You could tell from the moment he flipped on the light that this was a bachelor pad.

"Sorry, Mikey is messy."

"Eh, that's ok, that's how little brothers are."

Gerard stared back at you for a moment, and then with a grin it registered how you knew.

Because you just knew.

"There are a few others that come around that we believe might be targeted in the future."

"What are their abilities?"

"Well there’s Nicole, she's pyrokinetic and Adam is telekinetic. Ray is the keeper of the grimoire. He is always working on new potions and cures downstairs. We're certain there will be more that will turn up, hopefully you can help find them before anyone else does."

You nodded solemnly. You joked around sometimes to cope with your nerves, but you knew this was serious.

"I suppose I should email my boss and tell him I had an emergency come up and I won't be in on Monday, or for a while" you said pulling out your phone from your pocket. You didn't really realize the implications of running off until just then. Your bank account, rent, work, it would have to wait. Or be given up. You suddenly felt very overwhelmed and tears welled up in your eyes as you sank onto the couch.

"(YN), are you ok?" Gerard asked glancing at you. He was by your side with an arm around your shoulder in an instant when he saw the tears sliding down your face.

"Yea, I'm fine, I'm just a bit overwhelmed right now. It's a lot to take in."

"I'm sorry to do this to you" Gerard said in a comforting tone. "Come on, I'll get you something to eat and I'll get a room ready for you," he said taking you by the hand and leading you to the kitchen. His fingers were rough against your soft hands.

You stared out the kitchen window at the dark yard stretching on seemingly forever, who knew what was out there. Maybe you could if you concentrated hard enough, but you didn't want to try right then. You wanted just a few moments of normalcy as Gerard set down a bowl of soup on the table for you.

After finishing the meal you went upstairs to find Gerard gathering up loose items that had been left by the previous inhabitant of the spare room.

"Gerard, something happened to that other seer, right?” You asked.

He sighed. "Seers, psychics and the like are all a precious commodity. John, the seer that saw you was taken about the same time as Mikey. Mikey had a way out, but John is still in their clutches as far as we're aware. We assume they are using him as a spy, or that’s what they want to do."

You nodded, understanding the situation. Maybe you could come up with a way to save John to repay the fact that he saved your life as well. "Well, now you have a spy on your side too."

Gerard smiled at you. "I'll let you get some rest, I left a phone charger for you, I think it’s the right one,” Gerard said as he slipped out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

You popped off your shoes, and shook off your jacket, putting it over the back of a chair in the corner. Getting into bed, you turned off the light and laid down, but you couldn't keep your eyes closed for long. Every time you did, the realization that you might see something you'd rather not see came flooding back. After half an hour you got up and found Gerard reading in the living room.

"I have a problem," you said sitting down next to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked setting down his book, a look of concern flashed across his eyes.

"I'm afraid to go to sleep now, what if I see something I don't want to see, you know?"

"Shit, yea," Gerard said, realizing the enormity of what this day brought upon you. "Don't feel like you have to force anything. You'll get used to it soon."

"Yea," you replied gloomily. You sat quietly for a while, staring at the floor before a thought popped into your mind. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"In my dreams you had different hair like every time I looked at you. Is that something you can really do?"

"You mean this?" He asked with a grin as his long black hair slowly turned bright red from the roots to tips.

"That is so cool," you laughed. "I wish I could do that, it would save a fortune at the hair salon."

Gerard laughed and you caught each other’s eyes. You felt your breath hitch in your chest as the magnetic forces beyond your control pulled you closer to him.

Your lips pressed against his, soft and warm, comforting beyond measure. His hand brushed your cheek gently, his rough fingertips were a contrast that brought goosebumps to your skin. When you pulled back you were both blushing.

"I'll do whatever I can to protect you," he said quietly.

"I'll do whatever I can to help your cause," you replied.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter mean a couple of song recommendations! First Homecoming by Taking Back Sunday, then Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy (~ indicates the song change)

You woke up the next morning still on the couch, using Gerard's leg as a pillow. His head was tilted against the back of the couch, mouth slightly open as he slept. You sat up cautiously trying not to wake him and tried to remember if you had dreamt the night before, but nothing came up. It was probably for the best at this point.

You got up and stretched and sought out the bathroom. After, you decided to wander around the home. It was an old Victorian style house, with a few rooms in addition to the room Gerard had attempted to put you up in the night before. First you found Mikey's room and peered in. The curtains were closed even though no one was there. The bed was a mess of sheets, clothes littered the floor, and a bass guitar was propped up in the corner.

Next door was Gerard's room. It wasn't much more pulled together, but the curtains were open revealing the sunny day outside. You glanced around and saw a stack of books and comics on the floor next to his bed. The room smelled faintly of what you had grown to recognize as Gerard’s scent; cigarettes and coffee.

You moved on, afraid of being caught creeping on Gerard's space. You knew he was fond of you based on how he kissed you the night before, the way he talked to you to keep your mind at ease into the night until your eyes grew heavy despite how you fought against them, but you didn't need to get caught invading anyone's privacy.

Down the hall you glanced at the other room that appeared to be set up as a guest room. Any doubt that lingered in the back of your mind was erased, this truly was a safe house for those who were like you.

* * *

 

From downstairs you heard the front door slam. Mikey was back. You quietly crept about halfway down the stairs and saw a tall, slender figure standing in front of Gerard who looked like he had only just woke up.

"I asked did you find her?"

"Yea she was just-" Gerard looked around the room for you.

"Hi, I'm (YN)," you said from your spot on the stairs.

"Mikey," he replied with a quick wave.

"I know."

"Do you do that a lot?"

"I only recently realized I could," you said with a shrug as you came into the living room. "So what's going on? Did you find the entrance to the facility?”

"No, they must have figured out how I got out, every vent was covered with a fine screen. I couldn't locate a main entrance, so it must be an underground tunnel somewhere.”

"And this is where I come in?" You asked, already knowing the answer.

"Exactly." Gerard replied.

"Can I have a notebook, I want to write everything down as soon as I wake up, if I get anything. I had a dream symbols book at home, I wish I had it."

"We should check in a few days and see if there's anyone surveilling your place and maybe we can go get some of your stuff," Gerard offered.

"I'll give you guys a hand, just let me know when you want help. I'm gonna go crash for a while." He said before jogging up the stairs leaving you and Gerard alone.

"I'm gonna make some coffee, would you like some," he asked getting up.

"God, yes please," you said settling into the couch, scrolling through your phone for any updates from your previous life.

As Gerard prepared the coffee he thought back to when John had called him about a week before.

"Hey man, how you doing?" Gerard asked when he answered his phone. He had just poured himself a mug of coffee.

"Good Gee, I just wanted to let you know I got a lead on another seer, I think her name is (YN), you should go find her before anyone else does."

"Sure, where is she?"

"Around the corner from the central library in town. Man, she's real pretty, (YHC) hair, (YEC) eyes. She'll know you're coming." Just then Gerard heard a knock on John's door through the phone. "Hang on a second man" he said opening the door. Then Gerard heard a scuffle. He heard John telling whoever was at the door to get their hands off him, and then a crack as the phone on the other end hit the floor and the line went dead. Gerard had tried shouting John's name in the phone futilely.

He immediately sprang into action, driving into town, transforming into a crow, soaring over the area around the library. A couple days later he saw you walking down the road, he followed behind at a distance, flitting from branch to branch, staying out of sight. He had a feeling it had to be you, and John was right, you were so pretty. Gerard did his best not to invade your privacy, but occasionally he’d find himself looking through the kitchen window, noticing little things you did. The way you smiled as you took your first sip of coffee, how excited you looked as you decorated your place for autumn, but also how you had been waking up in the middle of the night, scared of what you saw. He wanted to comfort you, but couldn't reach out at that time.

But now you were here, walking into the kitchen looking for coffee.

Gerard handed you the mug and you breathed in the warmth. A small smile playing at your lips as you took a sip and Gerard glanced over at you smiling as well.

"Wanna see the grounds?" Gerard asked.

"The grounds? How expansive is this place?" You asked, astonished.

"Come on," he said with a laugh as he pulled on his leather jacket and went out the back door. "Our grandparents left us the property in their will. Mikey and I practically grew up here," he explained as you crossed the backyard toward the tree line. You could see there was a path through the trees, and that's where you were headed.

Dew wetted the toes of your shoes, and the coffee steamed against the cool early fall air. As you walked along the path you occasionally brushed against each other's arms. You soon arrived at a small lake and felt calmer than you had in ages standing at the edge of the water. Water always had that effect on you.

Silently Gerard slipped his fingers between yours. You glanced up at him, but suddenly a thought popped into your mind.

"There’s another one, he thinks he's being watched because he can talk to animals," you blurted out.

"Do you know where, or a name?"

"Something with an A, I think? He's got a beard and tats, lots of them. Is that enough to go on?"

"Better than nothing Sugar!" Gerard replied excitedly, squeezing your hand. "It’s a solid lead."

You couldn't help but be pleased with his response. Normally when thoughts like that would pop into your mind, you would dismiss them after learning that randomly blurting out bizarre things is frowned upon in the general public.

Unless you have befriended shape shifter. A really cute shape shifter who kisses really well.

You felt a slight tug on your hand and turned to face Gerard as he pulled you against him, his lips on yours, tasting of coffee and warmth.

When you pulled apart, you rested your head on his chest as he wrapped his free arm around your back, and stared out the lake. After a few more minutes the cool air began to creep in since you hadn't put your jacket on before going outside.

Back inside the house, Gerard began digging in a desk drawer in the study and pulled out a pen and a leather bound book. He flipped through the pages of the book before handing them to you.

"Here, it was a journal my grandmother never got to use, but you can use it to write things down as they occur to you."

"Thank you," you replied as you took the book and flipped through the blank pages. You went back out to the living room and sat down in a chair and promptly started writing down everything that had occurred in the last couple of days as well as significant memories and predictions from before you realized you had this power. Gerard had pulled out a laptop and began searching online for anything he could find on the guy you had seen.

“Is this him?” Gerard asked after a while, showing you a Facebook page. The guy looked a lot younger than what you had seen, but not too far off.

“If that photo is about 10 years old, then yea, I think so,” you replied.

Gerard did some clicking. “Yea, looks like last updated is from 2008. I’ll see if I can track down any current contact info.”

After filling a page with notes, including your current success with Andy, you were doodling in the corner of a page sketching flowers, familiar hazel eyes, and a couple hearts around the letter G for good measure.

“(YN)” a quiet voice said from behind you. You looked around, but there was no one that the voice could belong to. Suddenly the face on an elderly woman appeared in front of your eyes out of nowhere.

“(YN), trust my boy. Protect him. Don’t ever lose hope. The fates have worked to bring you together.”

You tried to open your mouth to reply, but instead jolted awake. You had dozed off in your chair in the living room.

“What did you see, Sugar?” Gerard asked leaning toward you from his spot on the couch.

You didn’t exactly know what to tell him. The message seemed to be personally for you, but you presumed that it had come from his Grandmother, so you should share it with him.

“Can I see a photo of your Grandmother?”

Gerard went to the other room and came back with a frame, bringing it to you.

“Yea, this is her.”

“You saw my Grandmother?” Gerard asked excitedly, kneeling down next to your chair placing his hand on your knee, looking in your eyes with a tenderness that pulled at your heart.

“Yea, she said to trust you, and…” you paused, blushing. Was it weird to tell him fate had brought you together? Before you had a chance to answer, two men came through the front door.

~

“Well, well, well Gee, what do we have here? Are we interrupting something?” The first man through the door asked seeing Gerard kneeling next to your chair, his hand on your knee. “Hi I’m Frank,” he greeted you.

“I’m (YN), and you must be Ray,” you said turning to look at the other man who walked in.

“You found the seer? Nice!” Ray replied. “How’s it going?” He asked, and you shrugged in reply.

“Where’s Mikey?” Frank asked.

“Upstairs, probably sleeping,” Gerard said reseating himself on the couch.

“I’ll go get him,” Frank replied as he ran up the stairs two at a time. A few moments later Mikey shouting at Frank could be heard downstairs.

“Frank can go invisible,” Ray explained as he settled in a chair across the room.

“That’s gotta be a valuable skill,” you replied and they both nodded.

“But I’m pretty sure he’s yet to use that ability for anything other than causing mischief,” Ray finished. “You guys got any leads on anything?”

“(YN) saw someone, and I think I might have found him online, but I haven’t reached out yet. He isn’t too far away. He’s some kind of researcher and animal rights activist.”

“Makes sense if he can communicate with animals, but why would he think he’s being tracked?” You wondered out loud. They both shrugged, wondering quietly as well. There were too many questions that needed answers.

“Ok, let’s go get somethin to eat, I’ll drive” Frank announced as he came down the steps with a still sleepy looking Mikey following after.

“Is there any place nearby?” You ask, getting up and following them out the door.

“There’s a place up the road, little dive bar,” Ray responded.

“Sounds good,” you said as you slid into the backseat between the Way brothers.

Not too far down the road you pulled into a small roadside bar on the edge of a small town. Once inside, you settled into a booth, and a tired old waitress came over to take your orders. You listened as the guys joked around with each other, clearly old friends who knew each other well. Your friends were great, but it never felt like it did being around these guys.

You always felt at least a little bit like an outsider with your friends, but here you felt like you belonged. The guys asked you questions about your life to get to know you better and made you feel welcome. You were also feeling a bit of a rush whenever Gerard’s leg would brush against yours under the table. You never moved yours away, relishing in the contact. He glanced over at you, the long red hair falling in his eyes, but you noticed and gave him a smile in return. He blushed slightly and grinned.

After spending much longer in the bar than the tired old waitress would have liked, your group headed home. When you got back to the house after the evening out, it was decided that the other guys would crash there for the night. After a few more hours joking around and getting to know the guys, you decided that it was probably about time you got to bed.

“It was really great to meet you guys, but I’m getting kinda tired, so I’m gonna go up to bed. Hopefully I’ll have some more information for you in the morning” you said getting up, taking your notebook and pen with you.

Gerard got up as well. “Can you tell me the rest of what you saw? From before?” he asked quietly.

"Oh, sure,” you blushed. He followed you up the stairs to your room.

“Umm, so,” you started as he followed you into the room, closing the door partially behind him. “She said I should trust you, that I shouldn’t lose hope, and she asked me to protect you,” you explained and then paused. “And she said that the fates brought us together.” You said almost mumbling the last part, blushing deeper still. It seemed like such an intimate statement and you didn’t know how Gerard would react. You had been staring at a spot on the ground between you as you said everything, but you looked up now to find Gerard smiling.

“She always said what fates bring together cannot be undone,” he said quietly. He was also blushing.

Your heart rate quickened as you felt yourself pulling his lips to yours, running your hands through the still red hair. He wrapped his arms around your waist, holding you like he never wanted to let go.

Downstairs Frank popped back into visible form as he walked back into the living room.

“They’re talking about fate and blushing like school kids and making out up there,” Frank reported, amused by what he had just witnessed.

Mikey rolled his eyes, but smiled as Ray let out an “aww”.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song recommendations for this chapter: “Dying in LA” by Panic! At The Disco, “Flicker, Fade” by Taking Back Sunday and “Twin Skeletons” by Fall Out Boy (the ~ indicates the song change)

The next morning you jolted awake. You grabbed your notebook off the floor and started scribbling notes.

‘Entrance is a tunnel in the forest, no people inside, burn it all = no more records. Gerard down.’ You shuddered writing that note. ‘Running, smoke, dark. Then something that didn’t fit at all, a tarot card, the death card.’ That was the last thing you saw before you woke up. You didn’t have a good feeling about that, but you wrote it down anyway since it was what you saw.

You quietly padded out of your room and peeked in Gerard’s room. The door was cracked and you could see a mess of red hair on the pillow, his bare back to you. You blushed and went downstairs to see Frank asleep face first on the couch. You smiled and continued into the kitchen. Quietly you poured some coffee and slipped out onto the back steps.

Sitting in the fall air, you felt chilly as it had cooled considerably in the two the days since you arrived. You really hoped to go home today, or at least to a store to get some clean items. You heard the backdoor close behind you and you glanced back to see it was Ray. He sat down next to you.

“Mornin,” he greeted you.

“Hey,” you replied.

“So you’re a real deal seer?” He asked quietly.

“So I’ve been told. I guess it checks out, I mean I’ve been seeing things in my dreams or I’ve always just known stuff somehow without actually learning it. I saw Gerard in my dreams before he showed up. I saw his Grandmother yesterday. It’s bizarre, but makes total sense at the same time. What about you, I heard you cast spells and make potions like some kind of wizard?”

“Yea, no special powers for me, just old fashioned hard work.” He replied. “All my stuff is downstairs here. They got all kinds of space compared to my tiny shitty apartment,” he laughed.

You laughed as well. “Yea this place is crazy huge and awesome.”

You and Ray kept chatting until Gerard came outside.

“Sorry to interrupt, but (YN) do you wanna go home and get some stuff?”

“Oh yea, that would be amazing,” you replied getting up and following Gerard inside, giving Ray a warm smile. You found him to be down to earth and easy to talk to. You hoped he might be willing to teach you a thing or two about casting spells.

~

“I guess Mikey flew over a while ago and texted to say nothing seems out of order at your place. We’ll still be careful,” he said as you got into his car.

“Have you gotten any word from Andy?”

“Not yet this morning, Mikey was gonna try to get in touch with him this morning. If he’s already paranoid though, it’s gonna be harder.”

“Yea I suppose he might be harder to convince than I was. Seeing is believing, and whatnot,” you said with a laugh.

Gerard smiled at you. “You get anything last night?”

Your face fell, recollecting on what you saw. “Oh yea,” you sighed. “I saw a tunnel in the woods, but nothing specific. Umm, smoke, fire destroying the facility, but no one was around for some reason. Umm,” you paused. “I think you might get hurt. I might get hurt too, but that’s the risk we run I suppose.”

Gerard glanced at you concerned. “Anything else?”

“No,” you lied. You were certain that whatever you saw relating to death was for you, not him and you didn’t want him to worry.

He glanced over again anyway, sensing there was something you weren’t telling him, but he decided not to press you right now.

“So I’ll try to be quick packing my stuff when we get there,” you said changing the subject.

“Oh yea, I was gonna do something before we got there,” Gerard said. When you looked back over at him, his hair was a little shorter and a golden blonde. “Just in case they think they know what I look like.”

“I don’t think I’m ever going to not be jealous of that,” you laughed.

When you arrived at your house, you found your spare key and went in. Gerard did a sweep of the house and nothing looked out of order. The coffee mugs from the day Gerard appeared were still on your table, now stone cold. You pulled your luggage out of your closet and started loading clothes and belongings you couldn’t be without.

“Hey Gerard?” You called from your room, and he appeared in the doorway.

“Yea?”

“Can you look at my laptop and make sure it doesn’t look… messed with?” You said gesturing to the computer at the foot of your bed.

“Sure thing, Sugar” he said taking a seat at the foot of your bed, opening up the laptop and looking it over.

“You think my life will ever be back to normal? Like, back to living here in my regular life?”

“Would you want to go back to your old life?” He asked simply.

You paused at the question, your brow knitted as you thought. Did you really want that? Would that mean ending what was developing with Gerard? Did you really think you could ever go back to how your life was before you discovered your abilities?

“I just don’t want to have to be running and hiding, looking over my shoulder that someone might snatch me up forever. I couldn’t ask for a better group to get me used to all this though,” you said with a smile to Gerard.

He smiled back. “I think it looks ok. You got everything?”

“I think so,” you replied loading the laptop into the bag and zipping it shut. You then heard a vibrating.

“Its Mikey, he tracked down Andy and he wants us to go get him,” Gerard said reading the text. “Oh and he’s outside.”

“Well let’s go I guess,” you said grabbing one bag and Gerard grabbed another before heading out. You took one last look around your place, unsure if you would ever see it again. You sure loved it this place, but it wasn’t safe right now. Gerard was your safety now, and if his Grandmother was right, you were his as well.

Mikey was sitting on the hood of Gerard’s car when you lugged all of your stuff out. "Got everything?“ He asked taking the bag from you.

"Almost literally,” you replied.

“Let’s go get him then,” Mikey said.

You arrived at a park and found Andy on a bench under a tree, exactly as you pictured, with a duffel bag at his feet.

“You’re Andy,” you said tentatively.

“Yep, you must be the seer, and the other shapeshifter. And you’re all gonna keep me from getting killed, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Gerard replied.

“Let’s go, I’ll explain everything on the way.”

~

Once on the road back to the house Andy divulged everything he knew. He had been working for a large pharmaceutical company called Restoricom as a researcher for a few years. He explained that as a kid he had been able to communicate with animals, but at the same time he didn’t know if he really even believed the messages he was receiving. He started at Restoricom after college because he was saving up money to get into veterinary school and heard they didn’t use animals in their research, but after some upper level changes he became less sure that was true. That is when he started digging.

He found that there was an entire separate division that was actively suppressing alternative medicine developments that would make the treatments the main corporation was working on obsolete. These alternatives included the possibility of magic. When he last had access to their information, they were only starting to gather information on potential people with powers. He quit out of fear that his power may be uncovered and used against him, or the animals he sought to protect.

“That’s why they took John and Mikey, they needed to do research on them, or get information out of them,” you concluded. “But now more than anyone else, they’re gonna want Ray, his ability to craft spells and potions would be beyond valuable to them, or detrimental depending on how you look at it.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“We’ll have to keep him undercover at the house so we can keep an eye on him and keep him safe. I’m sure he can put a protective spell over the house as well,” Gerard decided.

When you arrived at the house everyone unloaded the car.

“Should probably let Ray know what’s going on,” Gerard said.

“Can I come down too?” You asked. “I’ve never seen someone working on actual potions before.”

“Yea sure, he won’t mind,” Gerard replied. Following him what was most striking to you was how well soundproofed the basement was because when the door opened loud music hit your ears.

“Hey man,” Gerard shouted over the noise as he rounded the corner. Ray was at a workbench that was covered in notebooks, spell books, pens, glass jars and beakers.

“Quite the Breaking Bad vibe going on down here,” you joked. “You sure everything is on the up and up?”

“They can’t regulate what they don’t believe in,” Ray said with a laugh.

“That’s just the thing,” Gerard started and Ray turned to look at him with a very concerned expression.

“What’s going on?”

“We think Restoricom is gonna come after you,” Gerard replied.

“The pharmaceutical company? Really? Why?”

“Because you’re capable of making cures for diseases that they don’t want to cure,” you explained.

“But again, they’re a pharmaceutical company,” Ray argued.

“And if everything is cured, especially by magic, they go out of business,” Gerard said with a tone of disgust.

“That’s fucked up,” Ray said quietly. He looked like he was going to be ill. You and Gerard nodded silently.

“I think if you can cast some kind of cloaking spell on the house, we will all be better off. And it’s probably best if you stay here until we can get this all figured out too.” Gerard said matter of factly.

“Yea, sounds good. I’ll start looking into the spell,” Ray replied before turning back to his books.

You and Gerard made your way back upstairs and you noticed your bags were still by the door, but Andy and his bags were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh come on,” you muttered when you realized what happened.

“What’s wrong?” Frank asked from his spot on the couch, where he had barely moved from since he woke up a few hours before.

“I think my room just got taken,” you said, turning to march up the stairs, but your way was blocked by Mikey was coming down. Mikey shot Gerard a wink and a smirk as he walked by him. Gerard shot him a look back to let him know he didn’t need a setup, not like this.

“Come on,” Gerard said picking up the bags and going up the stairs.

“But aren’t all the spare rooms full?” You asked following him up. At the top of the stairs, he turned into his own room. “Gerard no, I can’t put you out like that.”

“(YN), I insist,” he said setting the bags down on the floor. “You need to sleep well so you can tell us what’s coming.”

“But I really don’t want you to have to sleep in a chair,” you paused. “I mean, I don’t mind sharing,” you said blushing and glancing down at your shoes.

Gerard tipped your chin up so you were looking him in the eye. “Whatever you want, Sugar,” he said with a smile and pressed a kiss to your lips. “I’ll let you get settled,” he said before stepping out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song recommendation for this chapter: The Ghost of You by My Chemical Romance.
> 
> For an extra spicy reading experience, listen to the live version off Life on the Murder Scene. You might want some headphones though

After unpacking, you headed back downstairs. Gerard and all the other guys were sitting around the living room.

“Ok, so tonight’s the night, Adam and Nicole will be here soon. Andy knows how to get there, we’ll take two cars. When we get there, we sweep the facility, confirm that it’s free of any innocent people-”

“Or animals,” Andy interjected.

“Or animals,” Gerard said nodding in agreement, “and destroy the records, the servers, everything we can.”

You felt yourself go pale. All the sudden tonight was the night, maybe the last night of your life. You tried to maintain a look of determination until Gerard was done speaking. When he was done, you went back upstairs to Gerard’s room and laid down on the bed, with you back to the door.

“You ok Sugar?” You heard Gerard ask behind you, shutting the door behind him.

You sighed and rolled over to look up at him. “Yea, I just wanted to lay down, it’s gonna be a long night. And it’s just a lot going on so fast. We’re probably gonna get hurt. This might lead to even more danger.”

Gerard sat down on the bed next to you and sighed. “Yea, I’m scared too. But we’ll be safer on the other side.”

You nodded. You knew he was right, they would be safer on the other side, but you might be on the other side of the mortal coil. Gerard sensed your nerves and shifted down so he was laying next to you and wrapped his arms around you, holding you close. You closed your eyes and let yourself fall asleep breathing in his scent.

When you woke up, you glanced up at Gerard, he was awake and smiled at you.

“Feel better?” he asked softly. You nodded and got up.

“I suppose it’s time to get ready?” You asked glancing at the clock.

“Probably should,” Gerard agreed. You grabbed a pair of black pants, a black hoodie and boots and slipped off to the bathroom to change. When you were done you went back to Gerard’s room to put the items you changed out of away. You knocked on Gerard’s door softly, which he had shut to change.

“Come in,” he shouted from the other side. You opened the door as he was pulling on a tight black long sleeve shirt, his back to you. His hair was no longer the golden blonde of this morning, but very short and white blonde.

“Ready to do this?” You asked tentatively.

“As I’ll ever be,” Gerard replied turning around. He looked you up and down. You were starting to feel badass in your dismantling-an-evil-corporation outfit and you appreciated that Gerard noticed it.

“(YN)… I…” Gerard started, but when he couldn’t find the right words, he stepped across the room to you, grabbing you and pressing his lips to yours with hunger, conveying the fear that this might be the last chance he would get to do so.

You pressed your whole self against him, hands in his hair. You pushed the memories of what you had already seen from your mind. He didn’t know you saw him with this white blonde hair, and it was further confirmation that tonight would not end well. But for once you had to live in the moment.

Gerard had turned you both and took a step, the back of your legs finding the edge of the bed behind you. You were about to sink back when you both jumped from the car horn blaring outside.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Mikey shouted at the house, sick of waiting.

You looked breathlessly at Gerard, hoping that these moments weren’t your last with him. Your concern didn’t seem to register with him though, as he shot you a cheeky smile, took your hand and lead you out of his room to join the assembling group outside.

You got in the backseat with Gerard. Mikey driving, Andy in the passenger seat navigating, while Frank, Nicole, and Adam followed in the other car. The ride to the facility was silent. Your stomach was in knots and everyone else was lost in their own thoughts.

When you arrived, the plan was repeated one more time, so everyone was on the same page. Frank would go invisible and clear the way, disabling security cameras and personnel as needed before joining with Adam, Gerard and you to look for John. Andy, Mikey and Nicole would sweep through for any other signs of life, human or otherwise, free them, and then Nicole would start torching the place, destroying all their servers and records stored there.

It was time to begin.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song recommendations: Only One by Yellowcard, then Pyramids of Salt by The Wonder Years
> 
> (yea it's getting a little emotional in this one)

When he was sure the coast was clear, Frank ran in ahead and came back out a few minutes later. “There’s no one in there,” he reported. “Seems too good to be true.”

“Yea,” Gerard replied, with a tone of suspicion. “Let’s just do what we came to do.”

The teams fell in and set to work. Frank was right, there were no signs of life anywhere, but Mikey confirmed this was the same facility he had been detained in just over a week ago. After running up and down the halls and finding no one in any of the holding cells or labs, you heard shouting from the corridor where the servers were kept.

“Mikey, Andy, run!” Nicole shouted at her team. “This place sabotaged! There’s accelerant coming out of the sprinkler system and I can’t control this much fire at once. Guys, run!”

Your team started to run its way toward the exit, but you became alarmed by how fast the hallway was filling with black smoke, obstructing your vision when suddenly the main lights went out, the hall barely illuminated by exit signs that did not seem to be giving any clear direction. This place was designed to trap and kill anyone who dared to sabotage it. Suddenly there was loud banging and crashing behind you.

“This way!” Adam shouted.

“Gerard?” You shouted, coughing as black smoke filling your lungs. You stumbled forward trying to remember which way you needed to go. “Gerard?!”

“I’m coming!” You heard him shout from behind you.

“Gerard I am not leaving you behind!” You shouted, coughing on the smoke.

“Don’t worry, I’m coming,” you heard him say his voice strained and no closer. Then you remembered what you had seen before. Blindly you ran back when you spotted the glint of white hair near the ground.

“Oh my God, Gerard!” You ran up to him, his leg pinned where a duct had fallen from the ceiling. “Can you change into something that could get out?”

“Not when I’m under this kind of stress. Just go on without me, I’m not hurt, I’ll get out,” he said as he struggled against it.

“No, I promised her I’d protect you, I won’t give up hope.”

With both of you lifting, you were able to get the vent off Gerard and you started back toward the entrance. As you moved as quickly as you could, the black smoke became thicker, and your vision became darker.

“(YN) are you with me?” You heard Gerard ask as he wrapped his arm around your waist as you felt your legs failing underneath you, lungs burning. You both made it out into the clear night as the rest of the tunnel collapsed behind you. It was then he saw your eyes were closed and he was totally supporting your weigh in his arms. He laid your lifeless body down in the dew-covered grass.

“(YN) come on, open your eyes,” Gerard pleaded. “Come on, Sugar, don’t do this.”

The rest of the group watched in stunned silence as their leader held you in his arms tears starting to slip from his eyes as he pleaded for a sign of life. Suddenly a tall, thin figure strode through the group, right up to you.

“Let her go,” he said calmly to Gerard.

“Fuck you,” he spat back.

“She isn’t gone yet, but if she slips away before you let me get to work, it will make my job a lot tougher. Please step back.” The man instructed, crouching down. Mikey rushed up to his brother and pulled him back.

The man placed one hand on your head, the other on your heart, and began reciting something under his breath. Suddenly your eyes were open and clear, starring up at the sky, partially obstructed by smoke billowing out of the tunnel. You drew in a gasping breath then coughed out a lungful of black smoke.

“You… you’re… death,” you stuttered looking at the man who just had his hands on you.

“Not exactly darlin’” he replied. “I’m Brendon, necromancy extraordinaire. Although you weren’t dead yet, I was able to keep her from finishing you off. She almost had me beat for a second there.”

You, along with the whole group stared open mouthed at the stranger.

“Are you ok? I’m so sorry, (YN)” Gerard said as he knelt next to you in the grass, grasping your shoulders tightly, his sad eyes searching your face.

“Yea, I think I’m ok,” you said reaching up to dry the tear lingering on his cheek.

“While I’m really glad to have saved this love fest, you better understand that taking out this one facility won’t stop them. You have a lot of work to do.”

“We destroyed everything. Their servers, records, research. What more could they do?” Mikey asked defiantly.

“A lot,” Brendon retorted. “But I’ll be at your service to fuck over those bastards anytime you need.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Frank said. Gerard helped you up, and you hurried back to where your cars were parked. While the mission to stop Restoricom wasn't a total failure, Brendon’s words rang through everyone’s mind.

~

As you rolled down the road home, you were suddenly hit with a major feeling of dread.

“Something is wrong. Really, really wrong,” you said quietly, not wanting to alarm anyone.

“Are you ok?” Gerard asked leaning over, searching you, trying to figure out what the problem was.

“It’s not me, but I… I think everything is not ok,” you replied.

“Text someone in the other car, see if they know anything,” Mikey suggested, and you nodded.

“Nicole just said they’re all fine, but to let them know when we figure it out,” Gerard said looking at his phone.

The rest of the drive everyone sank back into silence. You trying to wrack your brain for a reason to feel this way. Mikey was focused on driving. Andy was worrying about what to do next against Restoricom, knowing there had to be more to do against them. Gerard was thinking about everything that went wrong with the mission, how he needed to work on his abilities, so he wouldn’t get stuck in a dangerous situation again, and how you almost gave your life to save his. He never would be able to forgive himself if something were to happen to you. He wanted to do nothing more than wrap his arms around you and go to sleep for a very long time until tonight was just a faint memory.

“It’s Ray!” You said suddenly. “Mikey, floor it, I think there’s something going on with Ray,” you commanded from your seat behind the driver.

“Shit,” he muttered as he sped up for the last mile home, the other car following close behind.

He swerved into the driveway and the headlights from the car illuminating the front door. It looked ajar, like it had been kicked in.

“Fuck! Ray!” Shouted Gerard as everyone scrambled out of the cars and rushed inside. Gerard ran straight to the basement door and down the stairs.

“Fuck!” You heard him yell again as he ran back up from the basement. You felt tears start to well up in your eyes. You knew he was gone before Gerard was back in the room. You sank down onto the floor, unwilling to touch any of the upended chairs or replace any of the cushions that had been pulled off the sofa and violently flung across the room. Pictures in frames lay cracked on the floor, books, and records strewn about.

“They took him, and they took everything. His computer, his books, everything.”

“God damnit!” Frank shouted as he kicked a chair across the room.

“We’ll get him back. He’s too valuable, they aren’t gonna do anything to him,” Mikey reasoned.

“We’re gonna do whatever it takes, and we will bring them to their knees,” Gerard replied darkly. “We will make them pay for everything.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Fucking Deathwish by My Chemical Romance, then Cubicles by My Chemical Romance

****Ray was gone.

There was no telling where they took him, but he wasn't here anymore, and Gerard felt sick with guilt and rage. It wasn't enough that he almost lost you tonight, but now his friend was taken from the place he insisted he stay in to keep him safe.

The thoughts swirled through his mind as he paced back and forth across the room like a caged tiger. Luckily Mikey was keeping a level head and sprang into action and told everyone to start searching the house for any kind of listening devices or traps.

You were still kneeling on the floor of the living room, trying with everything you had to get something, anything, about where Ray might be. A flash of a location, a phrase, something, anything to cut through the noise, but your mind was blank.

Letting out a frustrated growl, you got up and stomped out the back door and started running until you found yourself at the edge of the lake. When you stopped, you started coughing from the cold air hitting your lungs that recently had been filled with smoke.

What good was this newly discovered power if you couldn't keep your friends safe? Or yourself?

Sitting on the ground at the edge of the cold water, you noticed the sun was just starting to come up. How had it been only days since this all began? Did Gerard have any faith left in you? Did the rest of the team? You let out a sigh. What more could you do?

A while later you heard footsteps behind you.

"Hey Gerard," you said without turning around.

"Hi," he replied quietly. "How are you doing?"

"Not great," you said honestly. "I just... I just don't feel like I'm good enough at this to help you guys. It's like I know just enough to be dangerous."

"You saved me tonight, and nothing you saw was wrong. I rushed into this and got hurt. And I'm the one who needs to work on their abilities," he replied sitting down next to you. "(YN) I was wondering, how did you recognize that Brendon guy? You called him death."

You sighed. "I saw the death card, like from a tarot deck, in the dream where I saw everything on fire at the facility. I didn't mention it because I knew that it had to be for me. I know the death card doesn't literally mean you're going to die when you see it in a reading, but I guess my subconscious, or wherever this is coming from knows it has to explain things like I’m a bit dense."

"You knew you might die, and still stayed in to save me?" Gerard asked in a quiet, awed tone. It wasn’t just that you had almost given your life for him, you knew fully well what you were doing.

You shrugged. There was no way you would knowingly leave anyone behind, let alone Gerard. The man who showed you so much kindness, who had been protecting you for longer than you knew. The man who had appeared in your dreams and had found a place in your heart.

"I never would let something happen to you," you said looking over at him. "And don't beat yourself up too much. You did what we all thought was right. We'll get Ray back."

He nodded solemnly, eyes fixed on the lake in front of you. "I hope you're right."

You leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Remember what she told me, don't ever lose hope."

Gerard's hard expression cracked a little at the mention of his Grandmother's words. You both sat by the lake a while longer before you had another realization.

"Gerard, am I safe here now? I mean, you and Mikey can just turn into bugs and fly away or lions and just eat them or whatever, and Frank can just disappear. Nicole and Adam can fight back with their abilities. But all I can do is hide and hope I don't get found. Same with Andy, if he stays here."

Gerard sat quietly, pondering your question. "I don't know, (YN), but if they come for you, they have to get through me first."

"Thanks," you said with a smile.

~

A while later you went back inside to clean yourself up to find Nicole and Adam had returned home. Andy and Mikey has retreated to their respective rooms and Frank had camped out on the couch again. Gerard decided to take the opportunity to practice shifting into different forms out in the forest, still unsatisfied with his performance on the mission. All he knew was he needed to be able to return the favor of protecting you the way you looked out for him. The way he promised he would.

After your shower to rinse soot and the smell of smoke off yourself you grabbed your phone and saw you had an email from your boss. Despite being a hardass most of the time, he was kind when you had initially emailed him about needing time off for a family emergency. This email was decidedly different.

Gerard had just come back inside and found you sitting at the kitchen table with your makeup bag in front of you, pulling items out. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Gerard, I need your help. Late last night I got an email from my boss. He said that if I'm not there first thing in morning to explain why, and I quote 'two goons showed up looking for you this morning when you said you were at a family emergency' I will be fired and he will ‘make it so I never work again.’ Gerard, they know where I work! What if they're waiting for me if I go there? So I decided there's a way we can potentially solve two problems at once,” you babbled, barely pausing for breath. It was clear to Gerard you were panicking.

"And what's that?" Gerard asked, trying to maintain a calm demeanor.

"I’m gonna fake my death," you said as plainly as if you had just ordered a cup of coffee. "We send my asshole boss a photo of me dead, make it seem like the goons found me, and maybe even make him feel guilty for all this. And then maybe we somehow get it to Restoricom too and they stop looking for me, at least for a while."

"I guess that could work, at least for your boss."

"Right, so I need to make myself look dead, can you help me stage the crime scene and take the photos?"

"Or I can do this," Gerard said as his face began to morph. Suddenly from the neck up it was like you were looking at the horror movie version of yourself. Dark sunken circles under your eyes, lips and skin pale.

"Oh God, Gerard this is really creepy, even for me… Can you maybe make it look like I was choked to death?"

"How's this?" He asked as purple bruises formed around his neck.

"Yea," you said equal parts fascinated and disturbed. "Let's go take the photos."

You both went upstairs, and you started snapping photos of your corpse in Gerard's disheveled bed.

"This is some really weird foreplay," Mikey said from the hallway. Gerard instantly changed back into himself and sat up flipping his brother off, as Mikey left laughing.

"I think we got something convincing enough," you said scrolling through the photos. Gerard went to his computer and printed off a photo. He scrawled something and handed it to you.

"We found her first, you contact the authorities, you get the same," you read. "Works for me. We gotta figure out how to get this to my boss without detection."

"Hey Mikey," Gerard shouted.

"What?" He shouted back as he entered the room.

"Wanna go incognito and deliver this to (YN)'s boss so he thinks she's dead and won't bother her anymore?"

Mikey shrugged, and his complexion started to change, and hair darkened as he took the folded paper and headed out, shutting the door behind him.

"Gerard, umm... I was wondering, how did you do that so easily? Make me look so dead?" You asked when you were alone again.

"Because I saw it last night," he said quietly, looking at the ground.

You gasped softly. How could you be so dumb and insensitive? "Shit, I didn't even stop to think..." you started, blushing deeply, embarrassed by what you had asked him to do.

"Its ok, you're still here," he said wrapping his arms around you, pressing a kiss to your forehead. You rested your head against his shoulder.

After a moment, there was a knock on the door. You jumped a little, and expected Gerard would let you go, but he actually gripped you tighter, afraid someone would snatch you away from him.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," Andy said from the cracked doorway.

"What's up?" Gerard asked.

"I just got ahold of my friend Patrick. His roommate is a hacker and he might be able to get into the system to see what they know, where Ray is, that kinda thing. He's out of town, but Patrick said he'd call when he's back and we can go over there," Andy explained.

Gerard nodded. "Yea that's a good idea, thanks."

"No problem, sorry again for interrupting," he said with a wave, shutting the door behind him.

"Wanna go see what Frank is up to?" Gerard asked.

"Sure," you replied following him out the door and down to the living room where Frank was watching TV.

"How you holding up Frank?" Gerard asked his friend who had a few beer cans scattered on the floor by his feet. He seemed to be deep in thought, rather than paying attention to the TV.

"I just wanna get out there and find him," Frank grumbled.

Your face fell as you felt another wave of guilt wash over you. You wanted nothing more than to help, but nothing had come to you. A false lead was no better than no lead at all.

"We're going to get him," Gerard said reassuringly, repeating the words you had spoken to him earlier, with a smile to you.

Frank did not seem much put at ease. You and Gerard tried to keep his mind off the situation at hand until Mikey came back a few hours later, a couple pizza boxes in hand.

"How'd it go?" You asked.

Mikey smirked. "I handed it off, then became a literal fly on the wall. Asshole lost his mind, but when the secretary came in, he kept his mouth shut, so it should be over." He said setting down the pizzas on the coffee table.

You chuckled darkly, knowing it served him right for trying to drag you into a dangerous situation. "Well that chapter of my life is over.”

"You're stuck with us assholes now," Frank said, his mouth full of cheese pizza. "Well, us assholes and loverboy over there," he said gesturing to Gerard.

You blushed and smiled. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: Over Before It Begins by John Nolan and Around the World and Back by State Champs (I’m particularly proud of these picks)

_“(YN), can you hear me? I don’t know where I am, but I’m alive. I got a thing on my head, I can’t see, but I stopped moving a while ago. I don’t know if they’re gonna hurt me, help!”_

You sat bolt upright in bed and grabbed your notebook and started writing, the moonlight barely illuminating your page. You threw off the blankets and opened the door to the bedroom right as Gerard was about to open the door. You let out a startled yelp.

"Woah, what’s going on?” Gerard asked in a whisper. It was the middle of the night and presumably everyone else in the house was asleep. You went back into the room, and Gerard shut the door behind you.

“Ray!” You said with a grin, holding up your notebook.

“You got something?” Gerard asked excitedly.

“Yea! He’s ok, well he sounded scared as hell, but he is alive and isn’t hurt right now. I don’t know where he is though. And I have no way to get a message back to him,” you said suddenly realizing maybe this wasn’t the big news you had immediately thought it was.

“That’s great! We’ve got a start,” Gerard replied.

You nodded resolutely. “I should get back to sleep, try to get something more maybe,” you said climbing back into the large bed.

“You still don’t mind sharing right?” Gerard asked tentatively.

You shook your head and laid back down, turning your back to him to give him privacy while he changed into PJ pants and an old t-shirt and climbed into the other side of the bed.

You felt his arms wrap around your waist, pulling you to him. How could someone’s arms feel so much like home? He gently kissed the side of your neck and nuzzled his nose into your hair, the soft, warm breath tickling your skin as you drifted back to sleep.

When you jolted back awake again, it was still dark, except for the small lamp on Gerard’s desk, where he sat, his back to you, head in his hands.

You grabbed your notebook again and started scribbling down everything you could remember. How could you have gotten this much information in a few hours?

When you finished, you looked up feeling Gerard’s eyes on you. He looked relieved.

“Finally, you’re up,” he said.

You glanced at the clock, it was only just after 6:30 AM. “What do you mean? It isn’t even dawn yet.”

“You slept through an entire day,” Gerard replied.

“What? No way.”

"You fell back asleep after you told me about the message from Ray,” you nodded remembering those events. “And the next morning I woke up, and you didn’t get up. And then it was the afternoon and you still weren’t awake, but we thought maybe you were getting something and didn’t want to interrupt.” Gerard said looking at the full pages of notes in the book on your lap.

“I was wondering how I got so much.”

“What did you see?” Gerard asked, sitting down next to you. You started to recount everything.

“We were in a city, an industrial area, really desolate. We go into a warehouse looking building, but the inside is really sterile looking, all metal. There’s rows of cells, Ray was in one and we got him out, he looked ok. There were guards that came out of nowhere. They were armed and we were outnumbered, but we ran for it anyway. Then that Brendon guy showed up, like out of nowhere, and this woman was with him, but I’m not certain we were still at the facility, I think it was someplace else, but then I woke up. I feel like there’s more, but maybe not? I wrote down all the details I can remember so we can find the place.”

Gerard nodded, taking it all in. “Good. And you aren’t leaving anything out about anyone getting hurt?” He asked cautiously.

“Not that I can recall seeing, there are parts I feel like I’m missing. There were a few people I didn’t recognize, I don’t know. But you, me, and the guys, I don’t remember seeing anything bad happening.”

“Good. We’re gonna go meet Andy’s friend’s roommate the hacker today if you wanna come.”

“Yea, I don’t wanna be here alone.”

Gerard nodded and you realized he was staring at you intently.

“What?” You asked with a laugh.

“I’m just glad you’re awake,” he said reaching out and tucking some stray hair behind your ear, rough fingertips glancing your cheek.

He pulled you to him, his lips on yours in an instant. You leaned into the kiss, warmth spreading through your whole body. You pulled him back with you as you laid back against the cool pillow, deepening the kiss. He moved down and started to kiss your neck and you ran your hand through his hair with a gasp. His hair was longer and black again you noticed. He came back up and your lips reconnected with even more passion than before.

He ran his hand through your hair, before sliding it down your back and gripping your waist, just under the hem of your shirt. You returned the favor of kissing his neck. You kissed a spot on his jaw that you knew he would like, and he let out a soft moan. You grinned into your kiss, knowing you were capable of using your power for even more good than you had initially anticipated.

~

Gerard walked into the kitchen with your notebook to write down the description of the warehouse to proceed with the rescue mission.

“Is she up?” Mikey asked seeing the more relaxed state of his brother, as well as the marks across his neck.

“Yea, she woke up this morning like nothing was wrong. She got a lot, like Ray is in a warehouse in an industrial area, not exactly sure where yet,” he said copying down your words.

“So you’re still goin to meet up with this Patrick guy?” Frank asked.

“Not Patrick, his roommate,” Andy clarified, walking in to the kitchen. Frank just grumbled, his mood no more improved in the days since Ray disappeared.

“I think we will, you guys wanna go see if you can find some leads based on this?” Gerard asked handing Frank the description he wrote down.

“Sounds good,” Mikey said, happy to get out and do something productive.

Gerard nodded quietly. His mind still full of his thoughts regarding the last couple days. While you had slept, he barely done the same.

The morning after you had gotten the message from Ray, Gerard woke up next to you and in the moment before the weight of the situation dawned upon him, he felt a rare moment of pure happiness. The scent of your hair in his nose, you warm and still in his arms beside him. Shifting as to not wake you, he sat up and pressed a kiss to your head. You didn’t stir, so he got out of bed and ready for the day.

A couple hours later, he realized you still weren’t up, which was strange. He went up and saw you hadn’t moved. A wave of panic washed through him as he quickly crossed the room, kneeling beside the bed. He pressed two fingers to your neck and found your pulse as he felt your soft breath. He sighed in relief knowing nothing had happened to you while you slept, but he was still concerned about why you seemed to be in such a state.

Gerard tried to go about his day, researching where it was possible Ray could have been taken by car within a 24 hour drive, anything he could find about Restoricom, and even taking time to practice switching forms, anything to keep distracted. More and more throughout the day though he found himself going up the stairs and watching you sleep. By the evening he wouldn’t leave your side.

“Have you tried kissing Sleeping Beauty?” Frank asked poking his head in, and Gerard rolled his eyes, trying to distract himself with the book in his lap. But after a minute of deliberating, he did lean over and pressed a kiss to your lips. You still didn’t stir.

“Well looks like you aren’t Prince Charming after all, let me have a shot,” Frank said with a mischievous grin, reappearing at the door.

“Get out of here Frank,” Gerard retorted, slightly embarrassed he had been caught. Frank left with a laugh, closing the door behind him.

“I’m not letting anyone else kiss you,” he muttered under his breath. “I hope you only want to kiss me,” Gerard wished out loud. “I could spend forever kissing you. I hope I can.” He was pouring his whole heart out, unsure if you could even hear him, or even if he would want you to hear him say all this, but once he started he couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out. “I really hope you don’t leave when this is all over, I hope my Grandmother was right, that fate brought us together and we won’t be torn apart. I don’t want you to go, you’d take my whole heart with you.” He slid to the edge of the bed and got up, glancing over his shoulder to see if maybe you had woken up from the movement, but you hadn’t moved. “I think I love you (YN),” he said softly.

Gerard sat down at his desk and spent the hours drawing, writing, falling asleep and then waking up and checking if you still seemed ok. When you finally woke up the next morning, it was like you had only been a sleep for eight hours, not 30.

When you got into the shower to wash off the sleep, you tried to reflect on anything else you had seen that you hadn’t written down. Had Gerard been talking to you while you were asleep? You couldn’t recall what was said, but the thought of it made you feel kind of warm and happy. It must have been nice you decided.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea by Fall Out Boy and Heroes by David Bowie

Your stomach was growling fiercely by the time you finally made your way downstairs to the kitchen where the group was assembled.

“There’s Sleeping Beauty,” Frank said with a wink. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Gerard shoot Frank a glare.

“Aww you think I’m pretty?” You asked with a sarcastically sweet tone, picking up on the tension between the friends. Frank just grinned, knowing it was winding Gerard up.

“Ok, so the plan is Mikey and Frank are gonna start looking for possible leads on warehouses, we’re gonna go with Andy to meet his friend, sound good?” Everyone nodded in agreement before Mikey and Frank got up and headed out.

After finishing your breakfast and downing a mug of coffee, you, Gerard, and Andy headed to his friend Patrick’s apartment. You walked up the three flights of stairs until you came to a door at the end of the hall. Andy rang the bell and you waited. He rang the bell again and knocked and you waited. And waited. Andy got out his phone and dialed Patrick’s number.

“Yea, we’ve been out here 5 minutes,” Andy said into his phone, exasperated. A moment later the door flung open and a shorter man with headphones around his neck ushered you in.

“Shit, sorry, come in, come in. I couldn’t hear the door with these things on,” he said gesturing to the headphones. “I’m Patrick.”

You and Gerard introduced yourselves as Patrick continued to apologize.

“Sorry again, follow me, I think Pete’s up,” he said leading you down the hall to the bedrooms. He knocked on the door and Pete shouted to come in.

“Hey, did you hear the doorbell?” Pete asked barely looking up from the game he was playing on his phone when Patrick opened the door.

“Yea, it’s my friend Andy here to see you, why didn’t you just get the door?” Patrick asked exasperated.

Pete just shrugged and set down his phone. Patrick just shook his head before leaving.

“So you’re Andy? Who are you two?” Pete asked.

“I’m Gerard, this is (YN), and we’re trying to find our friend and take down an evil corporation in the process.”

“Sweet, I’m in.” Pete replied quickly.

“Really? That easy?” Andy asked.

“Oh yea, any chance to stick it to the man, I’m in. What do you need me to do?”

“Can you get into Restoricom’s network and find where they’re keeping a Ray Toro? And maybe what information they have on a few people if you’re able to find anything. We thought we had destroyed their servers, but who knows what kinds of backups they have,” Gerard explained.

“Totally, let me get your info and I’ll get to work.”

Everyone exchanged contact information and headed back to the living room.

“Yo, Patrick, you didn’t tell me your friends were so cool,” Pete said at his roommate, but there was no response, as Patrick had his headphones back on, working intently at his computer.

“Eh, he’s back at his composing. He won’t even notice you guys left. I’ll let you know what I find,” Pete said as you headed out the door.

~

It was a quiet evening once you got back to the house. Andy had gone up to his room as he explained that he could no longer neglect his blog dedicated to animal rights abuses. Mikey and Frank hadn’t returned yet and you had fallen asleep on the couch next to Gerard as he quietly sketched. When you sat up awake, he smiled over at you.

“Anything interesting?”

“Yea, but I couldn’t tell if it was a vision or just a dream, you know?”

“What was it?” He asked closing and setting down his sketch book.

“We were at a fancy party. You had on a suit and I had on this blue dress and we were dancing. I assume it was just a dream though, why would we be anywhere like that?”

Gerard shrugged and got up. He walked over to a cabinet and opened up to reveal the record player inside. He stooped down, shuffled through the albums, and pulled one out, putting it on, choosing the song carefully. You didn’t need any special abilities to recognize the song instantly when it started.

“Bowie? Nice,” you commented as you heard “Heroes” begin.

Gerard sashayed back to where you were sitting on the couch, offering you his hand. You smiled and took it, placing your other hand on his shoulder. He put his free hand on the small of your back and you swayed around the room. You tossed your head back laughing, amused by the rare, but appreciated moment of levity.

“I, I will be king, and you, you will be queen,” he sang softly. You didn’t even know he could sing, but you felt your heart melt a little more at the discovery. You grinned at him.

“You sing so well,” you commented.

“One of my many talents, Sugar,” he said with a cheeky grin.

You wrapped both of your arms over his shoulder and you danced closer than before as he continued singing to you.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song suggestions: It’s Hard To Be Religious When Certain People Are Never Incinerated By Bolts Of Lightning by Mayday Parade and Demolition Lovers by My Chemical Romance

The next morning you woke up curled against Gerard, his arms around you protectively. You tried to recall anything, but nothing came to mind. It seemed if you woke up gently, there wasn’t anything to report, but when you awoke with a start, that’s when you had something. You lay in bed, enjoying the quiet, lazy moment with Gerard as he slowly woke up as well. After a make out session, you declared you needed coffee and you both got up to get ready for the day.

Enticed by the smell of coffee, Andy came downstairs too and you sat around chatting. You had wanted to go for a walk, but the rain clouds had opened up and it was no weather to be outside.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door and everyone looked at each other. No one was expecting anyone to come over, and most everyone that knew the owners of the house knew to just come in. Gerard got up to answer the door.

“Can I help you?” He asked sternly.

“Umm hi yea, I heard this was a safe place for people with abilities?” The male voice asked politely.

You furrowed your brow listening to the exchange.

“Who are you? And what can you do?” Gerard asked.

“Bob, Bob Bryar. I’m a seer too, I know you already got one, but I’m afraid someone has been watching me and I’m looking for some protection.”

You stifled a scoff and caught Andy’s eye. You nodded toward the kitchen and he followed you once you got up.

“My phone is upstairs charging, so I need you to text Pete to look up this Bob guy. I have a bad feeling he isn’t who he says he is,” you whispered.

Andy nodded and started typing. “Hopefully he responds quickly.”

“I agree. Follow whatever lead Gerard seems to be giving when we get back in there.”

Andy finished the text and followed you back into the living room. When you walked in, Bob was in a chair explaining his situation.

“Its been a couple weeks now, I just don’t feel safe,” he finished.

“Well we’re kinda at capacity out here,” Gerard replied.

“Please, I can sleep in a chair, floor, wherever,” he pleaded.

Gerard turned to look at you and Andy when you walked back in. You shot him a look of concern and he nodded. “Maybe just for the night,” Gerard replied.

“Thank you,” he exclaimed, relieved.

The rest of the evening was spent talking to Bob, getting to know him without any response from Pete. Once it got late, you decided to go up to bed. You fell asleep quickly, hoping to either get something from Ray again, or maybe something more about this Bob person.

“Get away from her! What do you think you’re doing?” You heard Gerard snarl and you quickly sat up in bed. He had Bob by the neck up against the wall.

“Nothing! Nothing! I was just looking for something to read,” he stuttered.

“There’s a library downstairs,” Gerard growled, he said shoving the offending party out of the door and followed after.

A few minutes later, Gerard came back into the room with a fierce look in his eyes.

“What happened?” You asked.

“I had been in here working on my transformations, and I saw Bob looking in here, so I watched him. He was going for your notebook. There’s something not right with him, but I keep thinking keep your friends close, and enemies closer.”

You nodded. “What did he say when you kicked him out of here?”

“He said he’d be gone in the morning,” Gerard said finally sitting at the end of the bed.

There was a quiet knock on the door just then. Gerard got up and answered it and Andy came in, shutting the door behind him.

“Pete sent a ton of information. He can’t find anything about a Bob Bryar, but he said there is a Robert Friar on their payroll. He said he’d try to get access to their employee ID system so we can do a visual comparison. He also said that he was able to find the file they have on Ray, and they’ve been interrogating him and according to the notes, they’re gonna erase his memories or exterminate him when they get enough out of him, just depending on how useful they think he’d be. Pete said to send all the other names you want checked.”

“Fuck,” Gerard muttered. “We gotta get there soon.”

“Frank’s about to call,” you said quietly before Gerard’s phone started buzzing on his desk. He grabbed it and smiled at you.

“What do you got Frank?” He paused as he listened. “Yea, she’s up, send it over and I’ll have her take a look.” There was a pause again. “This whole thing has gotten urgent so just send it and we can fill you in later.” Gerard hung up the phone and waited staring at the phone. “Frank and Mikey found a few spots that might be it, look and see if its any of these?“ Gerard asked handing you the phone. You swiped through the photos until one jumped out at you.

"This one,” you said handing it back. Gerard shot a text back to Frank confirming which location you identified.

“What are we gonna do about that Bob guy?” Andy asked.

“Bring him,” you quickly chimed in. “We can’t leave him here if he is who he says he is. And if he’s working for them, we use him as a shield.”

Andy winced at the harshness of your words, but Gerard nodded. “It’s really our only option.”

With that, Andy sent Pete everyone’s names so he could amass a full picture of what Restoricom knew of your group. Mikey and Frank reported they were going to go back to the warehouse you saw to watch for signs of activity or a way in. You did your best to fall asleep, looking for any advantage you could.

~

The next morning you were awakened by a soft knock on the door.

“Hey Andy, what did Pete send you?” You asked opening the door.

“Tons,” he replied. You grabbed your notebook that you had stashed under your pillow for safe keeping to take notes as he read through the information. “Surprisingly all they have on me is my old employee profile, they must not be aware of the talking to animals thing, so I guess I was being paranoid.”

You shrugged in response. “I would be too. Who is next?”

“They have both Mikey and Gerard as known shape shifters. Basically they don’t seem to need them for further research, but they also have them listed as a hindrance to operations and orders are to shoot on sight.”

“Fuck,” you muttered feeling your face go pale.

“Frank they had only as a known associate of the Way Brothers. They know Nicole and Adam have abilities, and they’re listed as dangerous and to proceed with caution.”

“So you’re saving the worst for last?” You asked, having a sinking feeling about what you were about to hear.

“(YLN, YFN), seer. Known associate of Way brothers. Apprehend at any cost, do not use lethal force under any circumstances. No other known abilities, not considered dangerous,” Andy read.

“They want to use me, probably the way they used John to get all this information. I’d probably be better off dead if they catch me, then I can’t bring them down on all of you.”

Andy just stared at the floor, unsure of what to say. On the other side of the cracked door, Gerard heard you and he felt his heart breaking at the thought of you again being willing to give your life before letting them get any information on himself or the others. In that moment he knew what he had to do.

“Good, you’re already in here,” Gerard said to Andy as he entered the room. “Bob is still here, I think I’ve convinced him to stay until tonight, then we’re going to go get Ray, and hopefully John too. Did Pete have any information on him?”

“I don’t think we gave him John’s name, I’ll do that now,” Andy replied.

“Here’s all the information,” you said handing Gerard the notebook, noticing the look of sadness in his eyes. You furrowed your brow at him, but he just looked away, busying himself with the notes.

“Shit,” Gerard muttered while reading the notes. “Yea, we gotta move tonight. Let us know as soon as Pete gets back to you.”

Andy nodded and left you and Gerard alone in the room. Gerard sat down at the foot of the bed.

“(YN), if I ran, would you go with me?” His eyes looking pleadingly in yours. There was a flicker of fear mixing with the sadness.

You didn’t understand where the question was coming from, but it didn’t matter. “To the end,” you replied.

“I have a backup plan in case this doesn’t go well tonight. I’m not going to let them get you. I’m not letting you give your life for this.”

It was then you realized the look you saw before and you nodded. “But I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself either. If I lose you,” you felt yourself getting choked up. “Then there’s no point,” you finished, feeling the tears welling up. You looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep them from spilling over.

Gerard crawled up to the top of the bed and wrapped his arms around you. You let the tears fall into his shoulder.

“We’re gonna be ok,” he whispered as he pressed his lips on to the top of your head.

After you calmed down, you turned to look up at Gerard.

“So where are we going to go? Are we gonna be gone long?” You asked.

“There’s a cabin up state, it’s small and remote. I dunno how long we’ll be gone. I’m not sure how long this is gonna go on.”

You nodded and slipped off the bed and started packing up your bag. “Pack up your bag too, and I’ll sneak them out to your car this afternoon.”

Gerard nodded and started to pull open drawers and laying out clothes. A knot of nerves began to build like the day before you got into the other Restoricom facility. That night you knew would end poorly, but tonight you didn’t know much, and that worried you just as much as knowing you were half doomed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance, Sleep - My Chemical Romance and Burn Bright - My Chemical Romance (how the fuck did I fit 3 songs into this tiny ass chapter?)

You met up with Frank and Mikey around the corner from the warehouse you had identified, and Nicole and Adam arrived shortly after.

“Hey Bob, can you go up to the corner and keep an eye out?” Gerard asked. Bob looked irritated but went to the corner anyway.

“Who the hell is that guy,” Adam asked.

“I’m 99 percent certain he’s a spy for Restoricom that showed up last night.” You replied, glancing at him over your shoulder.

“He tried to break in our room and steal (YN)’s notebook while she slept. We’ll use him as a shield if need be, and either way we’re gonna leave him here.”

“Broke in on (YN) and you didn’t rip him to shreds? You are practicing some restraint, Way,” Nicole laughed. Gerard rolled his eyes.

“I had an idea for once we get in there,” you said and everyone turned to look at you. “The information Pete got for us said that I am to be captured alive, and that Gerard and Mikey are to be shot on sight, so I was thinking if you two looked like me, then you’d be safe. Like in Harry Potter.”

“Yea that’s a good idea,” Mikey agreed.

“And we can split up, so none of us are left vulnerable. (YN) you go with Adam, Mikey with Nicole, Frank you stay with me after you get in and disarm security and cameras on the inside,” Gerard commanded.

“Andy, you got a way with savage beasts right?” Frank asked.

“Yea,” he replied tentatively.

“There are guard dogs, can you get in there and call them off before I get my invisible ass ripped off?”

“With pleasure,” he said before going around the opposite side of the building from where Bob was playing look out. Frank faded from view and a couple minutes later from the corner, there was a startled yell and when everyone turned to look, Bob was in the middle of pulling his pants back up. Everyone stifled a laugh at the sight of Frank’s prank.

After Andy and Frank secured the perimeter and returned, you let Gerard, who had morphed to look exactly like you, Frank and Bob go in ahead. Mikey also changed to look like you and went in with Nicole. Shortly after you and Adam followed.

You crept along the corridor, Adam a bit behind you. He was a tall man with long hair, a full sleeves of tattoos, and a hint of a southern accent. You hadn’t gotten to know him very well, but he seemed interesting.

You turned the corner and suddenly a black hood was pulled over your head and you felt someone grabbing you around your middle. You started lashing out, kicking your legs trying to free yourself.

Suddenly you dropped to the ground on your butt. You ripped the cloth off from your head and saw Adam lifting the man up by the throat, but he didn’t actually have a hand on him. He then threw the man down the hall where he crumpled when he hit the wall. Wide eyed you stared at him.

"Holy shit, are you Darth Vader?”

Adam laughed heartily and offered you a hand up. “Telekinesis, the Force, same thing really.”

~

You kept moving up the hallway, feeling confident in the direction you were going.

“We’re close. John and Ray are here, I can tell.”

“Good, I’m getting John out and then I’m going back home for a break from all this shit.”

“You two close?”

“He’s like a brother to me. When Gerard called and said he had been captured, I had to get up here and help him out.”

You nodded, understanding that loyalty within this group clearly ran deep.

You heard running footsteps approaching and you both huddled against the wall, but you realized it was your group and waved Adam to follow you. Soon Nicole and another version of you ran up.

“This will never not be weird as hell,” you said gesturing to Mikey.

“You’re telling me,” Mikey responded, but in your voice.

“Which way are we going?” Nicole asked.

“This way, follow me,” you said leading the way. Down a few more halls, you reached a section that had windows on the doors like portholes.

“They’re gonna be in here,” you said and Mikey and Adam took the lead running toward the doors, looking in each one.

“Are they empty?” Nicole asked.

“These are, yea,” Mikey said from the door he was looking in to.

“No, Ray is in here,” Adam said from the other side of the hall. He stood back and focused his attention on the lock. After a moment it clicked and the door swung open and Mikey, transforming back into himself rushed in.

You ran to the doorway and watched as Mikey shook Ray’s sleeping form.

“Come on, wake up,” Mikey pleaded, and Ray opened his eyes slowly.

“Mikey? Is that really you?” He asked sitting up, glancing at where you and Adam stood at the door. “Am I dreaming?”

“No come on,” Mikey replied pulling him up from the cot.

You turned to see Adam rushing to the next door, so you turned your attention to the ones across the hall.

“Adam, here!” you shouted at the sight of the brown-haired man sleeping. You knew it was him.

Adam rushed over and unlocked the door as easily as the last, throwing it open and rushing in. He rushed to his friend’s side and shook him awake.

“John, man, get up,” he whispered harshly at him.

“Holy shit, Adam,” John said waking up, focusing his eyes on his friend. They embraced in a hug and John scrambled to his feet.

“You’re (YN), I saw you before,” John said spotting you.

“Yea, thanks for that. If you hadn’t I probably would be here too,” you replied. “You saved my life.”

“Thanks for returning the favor,” he said as you went back to the hall.

“Now let’s get going,” Nicole called from her spot as look out.

“I’ll alert the others that we’ve got em,” Mikey said pulling out his phone.

You took the lead, sensing the way you were headed was clear.

Eventually the group ran into Frank, Gerard and Bob. When you ran up to the others, you stopped dead in your tracks, eyes meeting with Bob’s a look of confusion, then anger flashing across his eyes. He still believed that the version of you he was with was the real version. The jig was up.

~

“What the fuck is going on,” he shouted.

“Come on, let’s just go, we’ll figure it out outside,” you heard Gerard say with your voice.

“No! This ends here!” He shouted, his hand in his jacket pocket. You glanced at him and he shot you a look.

“You’re the real one aren’t you?” He said pointing an accusatory finger in your face.

You glanced at Gerard, you knew you were both wearing the same look of fear on your matching faces. Suddenly you had an idea.

“Gerard what are you talking about?” You said at Bob, hoping Gerard would pick up on where you were going. When you glanced over at him, you saw that he had, as he was now mirroring the nasty snarl on Bob’s face on his.  You sensed guards were coming up the hall from behind you.

You turned to the others. “Run, straight down this hall take a left, you should be in the clear.”

“I’ll lead them,” John said rushing forward as Mikey, Ray, Nicole and Adam hurried past.

Bob was now red in the face and you stared him down hard, rage filling you.

“What? Are you going to give me over to them? You aren’t a real seer, I will always have the advantage,” you shouted.

The guards you had sensed before rounded the corner. You immediately put the rest of your plan into action. You turned, hands in the air to the guards who had their guns drawn.

“Please, please don’t hurt us,” you turned to the real Bob and looked at him pleadingly. “Gerard, do something!”

“Wait, no what the fuck?” he stuttered.

“Fucking shoot him, what are you waiting for?” Gerard shouted with Bob’s voice from behind you. He stepped forward and grabbed your arm, pulling you roughly next to him. “I’ll take care of her,” he said pulling you down the hall, you struggled against him, trying to put on a good show. You could still hear Bob stuttering at his compatriots, trying to argue that he was on their side, and not one of the Ways.

You winced when you heard the gunshot and Gerard faltered in his marching pace momentarily and then started to walk even faster, pulling you along.

“Fuck,” you heard Frank say behind you. You let out a surprised yelp as he materialized behind the both of you, not realizing he hadn’t left with the others.

“They just fucking killed him! They thought he was you!” Frank exclaimed, he looked slightly unwell.

“We had no choice,” Gerard replied coldly.

“They were gonna take me and that would have been Gerard. That Bob guy tried to infiltrate our ranks and sabotage us. I don’t wanna say he had it coming,” you trailed off, a twinge of guilt was creeping into your conscious, but you pushed it back. Its kill or be killed now, and the line was crossed.

“Just remind me to stay on your good side,” Frank replied with a tone of disgust, pushing past you and toward the exit, not caring if he was spotted.

Gerard glanced around and spotted an open office, he pulled you inside.

“I think we need to go with the backup plan,” Gerard said, allowing himself to turn back to his normal appearance.

“Yea, we need to show the others that we’re willing to take the heat, and that we aren’t going to throw everyone to the wolves. I’ll make the call.”

Gerard nodded, and poked his head out the door before waving you to follow him. As soon as you stepped out the room you were hit with a thought.

“They’ve realized that isn’t you back there, we have to run.” Just then Pete answered his phone.

“Sup (YN)”

“ I need you to do me a favor right away,” you said breathlessly as you ran.

"What do you need?” Pete asked.

“I need you to get into the Restoricom system and alter their records so they aren’t to pursue anyone other than Gerard and me.”

“Wait, why?”

“We’re gonna run and they can come after us, we can take care of ourselves. The others need a break.”

“You two are nuts, but ok,” Pete muttered. “Ok, I just sent it out an alert, they’re gonna be hot on your tails soon.”

“Thanks Pete, for everything.”

“Stay safe (YN). Keep in touch,” Pete responded before hanging up.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: Surrender the Night - MCR, I Felt It Too - Taking Back Sunday

Running out of the building behind Gerard, you ran to his car and jumped into the passenger seat.

“Frank, listen, we had to do what we had to do back there. We’re gonna try to make it right,” Gerard said catching back up to his friend. “So you guys get straight back to the house, no matter what,” Gerard commanded.

“Wait, where are you going?” Frank asked, his hard exterior cracking.

“We’re gonna get them off you for a while.”

“Gee, what the hell are you doing?” Mikey shouted at his brother.

“They’re coming!” You shouted, sensing that they would be up the side street you were parked on shortly.

“Now go! Go!” Gerard shouted, pointing them down the road. He ran and slid behind the wheel of his car, flooring the gas petal and speeding you both away from the safety of the group.

Out of nowhere, two black cars followed behind yours and you could see in the mirror that no one was following your friends. The plan was working.

Gerard sped north out of the city, flying on the streets deserted due to the late hour, the two cars still following close behind. He got on the highway and one of the cars that had been following you since you left the warehouse was still on your tail, the other had stayed down on the city streets.

Gerard was stone faced and you tried to keep your nerves under wraps. Suddenly a thought popped into your mind.

“Brake!” You shouted. Gerard slammed on the brakes and as he did, the car that had been behind you pulled ahead and swerved into where you would have been. The car started to roll on its side down the road and into the other oncoming Restoricom car that had come from the opposite direction to cut you off.

Gerard glanced over at you. Despite knowing he was going to brake hard, your head slammed into the dashboard and you now had a cut above your eyebrow.

“Fuck, (YN) are you ok? I’m so sorry,” Gerard said about to reach over.

“I’m fine, just drive!” You commanded.

He pulled a fast u-turn and floored it. You could feel blood drip down onto your cheek, but you weren’t concerned about it. Gerard got off the highway to get around the wreck and then back on a few miles later, leading the danger further away from your friends.

~

It was morning as Gerard pulled onto a gravel road winding through the trees. You had dozed off against the window and Gerard gently shook your knee to wake you up.

“Hey Sugar, we’re here.”

Opening your eyes, you saw a small log cabin surrounded by dense forest. You got out of the car stretching and followed Gerard who was carrying your bags, into the small building.

“And no one was following us?” You asked rubbing your forehead. A dull ache radiating from the cut.

“No, and it would be hard for them to hide it if they were.”

“At least its cozy,” you murmured, taking in your surroundings. There was a small living room with a fireplace, a bedroom at the back of the house and a galley kitchen on the side.

“Me and Mikey would come up here with our Grandparents in the summer, I came up here on my own a couple months ago to get away from it all,” he said setting down the bags in the bedroom. “Are you ok?” He asked noticing you rubbing your forehead.

“Yea, it just aches,” you replied.

He turned and went to the bathroom and came back with a wet washcloth and gently wiped the dried blood off your face. “Much better,” he said with a tired smile.

“We’re safe here, right?”

“You’re always safe if I’m here,” he said cupping your cheek before leaning in to kiss you softly. When he pulled back, Gerard couldn’t stifle a yawn.

“You’ve been up for hours, go lay down, I’ll keep watch,” you said.

“Thanks,” Gerard mumbled, the weight of his exhaustion catching up to him quickly as he shuffled back to the bedroom. You went over and locked the front door and spent some time just watching the sun shine through the leaves, illuminating the orange, red, and rust colors of fall.

After a while, you felt yourself getting sleepy so you went into the bedroom and laid down next to Gerard.

If they’re going to get us, let them get us like this, you thought as you drifted to sleep curled against Gerard.

You woke up a few hours later, and Gerard woke up a few hours after that.

“How long was I out for?” Gerard asked.

“A while,” you said with a shiver. The cold air was really starting to creep in.

“I’ll get the fire going,” he said getting up, pulling on his leather jacket.

You went to the kitchen and found a can of soup. Checking the expiration you saw it was still good and started heating it on the small stove as Gerard carried in an armload of firewood.

Watching him prepare the fire made you feel incredibly calm, this was the closest to normalcy you and Gerard had experienced together so far.

“Let’s just stay up here forever, live off the grid like a couple of outlaws,” you suggested. You heard Gerard laugh from the other room.

“That sound perfect,” Gerard said coming into the kitchen. “Though I think I’d miss my brother eventually.”

“True,” you conceded. “But I can’t wait for this to all be over.”

“Me too,” he said walking up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder as you stirred the soup.

“What’s our next move? When do we make a move?” You asked.

“I’m not sure yet. Maybe wait and see if you get anything?”

You shrugged in response. “Probably a good idea.”

After finishing making dinner and eating, you and Gerard sat quietly on the couch in front of the fire. Gerard occasionally telling you about his childhood adventures at the cabin and you talked about the vacations you took as a kid. Eventually your eyelids grew heavy as you leaned your head on Gerard’s shoulder. Noticing your breathing had changed, Gerard glanced over at your sleeping form. He carefully scooped you up and carried you to bed before crawling next to you, holding you close.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestion: Death Valley by Fall Out Boy

The next morning when you woke up, the sunshine was pouring through the thin curtains. When Gerard woke up you spent a long time lazily kissing each other and reveling in the relaxed feeling the morning brought, snuggled down under the warm blankets.

“I should probably get some more firewood,” he said getting up and getting changed. After following suit, you found him outside the small home. You watched as he walked around to the wood pile, pulling the ax out of the stump and he set to work splitting the lumber.

It was something you never expected to see, Gerard going full lumberjack and it really was quite the sight to behold. You found yourself leaning against the house, biting your lip as he raised the ax, a sliver of pale skin becoming visible momentarily under the hem of his shirt, and, swinging it down against the wood again and again. Feeling you watching, he glanced over and gave you a smirk, well aware of the show he was putting on.

“Wanna give me a hand with this wood?” He asked, picking up the split logs.

You let out a laugh at the unintentional innuendo and grabbed the rest of the pile and followed him inside. Setting down your stack next to the fire place, he added his logs, and put a few more on the fire. When he stood up, you pounced, pushing him back onto the couch.

You climbed onto Gerard’s lap, straddling his legs, as your lips met his, running your hands through his black hair. He gripped your waist with one hand, the other slipping under the hem of your shirt running up and down your back, his hand rough against the smooth skin of your back, causing goosebumps to cover your skin. His lips moved to your neck, kissing gently at first, then with more passion, starting to leave marks. You let your head fall back, a sigh escaping your lips.

You both jumped when there was a strong knock on the door. Gerard’s grip on your hip tightening.

“Go hide in the bedroom,” Gerard whispered.

You nodded and slipped into the back room and hid behind the door so you could hear who it was. Gerard grabbed the largest knife he could find in the kitchen before opening the door.

“Brendon? How the fuck did you find us?”

“Good to see you too, Gerard. You said us, so I assume (YN) is here too?”

You came out from your hiding spot. “What’s going on?”

“There she is! Now (YN), you almost met my friend here, but I’d like to formally introduce you to Death,” he said taking a step to the side and a gorgeous woman with dark hair and big blue eyes stepped forward.

“Hello, you can call me Sarah.”

You and Gerard both took a step back, both shocked. “Why are you here?” Gerard asked.

“If I remember correctly, you,” Brendon said pointing at you. “Owe me, or rather my friend here.”

“Me?” You scoffed. “I made peace with my fate that night, you saved me. I think you owe your own friend a favor.”

“Well if you were happy to die that night, we can take care of it right now,” Death said politely, taking a step toward you.

“Hey!” Gerard shouted stepping in front of you.

“No, no, let’s not be hasty, I saw us at some kind of fancy gala, I wasn’t sure if it was anything more than a dream before, but now I know it doesn’t end like this,” you reasoned.

“Sometimes I feel like seers get an unfair advantage,” Brendon sighed. “Anyway, you’re right, Sarah is none too happy about Restoricom playing with people’s lives and impacting her schedule. We have a plan, if you’d like to help, although I’m not giving you much of a choice. Besides, you two do seem like you have a flair for the dramatic.”

You grinned at Gerard and he gave you a smirk before turning back to Brendon. “Let’s hear it then.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Suggestions: Heroes by David Bowie (it's a motif, yes I did drag that word up from high school english class), Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back by MCR, and The End. by MCR

A couple of nights later you and Gerard pulled up a few blocks back from your destination. High heels in hand, you crept behind him down the back alley to your destination, Brendon already waiting for you.

“Well don’t you kids clean up nice?” He commented. “Gerard would you do us the honors of letting us in?”

“With pleasure,” he replied. In a blink he had disappeared and a faint buzzing was heard as a fly went into the exhaust vent on the side of the building.

You started to shiver as you put on your shoes and waited for Gerard to open the door.

“So, you and Death, or Sarah, or whatever. What’s the deal with you two?” You asked.

“We have a mutual appreciation for the macabre and what the other can do. And she’s fucking gorgeous.”

You nodded in agreement. “But is it like you see in the movies where you touch her, you die?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Brendon replied wiggling his eyebrows and you burst out laughing.

Gerard opened the back entrance and saw you under the dim streetlight, head tossed back laughing. He wanted nothing more than to kiss you and tell you a thousand times how beautiful you were. He wanted to finally tell you he loved you, to take away from this mess, back to the cabin where you were finally alone. But tonight you had to risk your lives again.

You glanced over then and spotted him staring and smiled. “Ready?”

He nodded and you and Brendon snuck through the open door, bags in tow.

“Are they really so arrogant as to think no one could possibly try to get in the back way and not have any security there?” You asked in a hushed tone.

“The bastards here believe they’re completely untouchable. There have been indictments, federal investigations, blackmail, and at least one assassination attempt, but these fucks have managed to come out not only unscathed, but ahead,” Brendon explained. “it’s so much more than what they’re doing to the Wonder Way twins and the rest of your gang.”

“We aren’t twins,” Gerard muttered as you arrived just outside the main ballroom. Brendon stashed the bags and turned back to you both.

“Board meeting starts in an hour, take advantage of their hospitality and I’ll signal you when it’s time,” Brendon instructed before he slipped off.

You and Gerard stood at the edge of the room as people filled in. You felt appropriately dressed in your sparkly navy blue gown. How Brendon had procured it, you weren’t sure you wanted to know, but you were even more willing to commit to his plan when you saw it involved that dress.

Gerard had been awestruck when you came out of the bedroom all done up for the evening. His jaw had dropped as he took your hand and twirled you around before catching you in a kiss. You were equally struck by the black on black suit he was wearing. It looked like it was made just for him.

“These pricks get rich off other people getting sick and suffering, and they throw a party to celebrate the profits, fucking disgusting,” Gerard muttered, his mood sour.

“They’re about to get what’s coming to them,” you replied. You tried to remain optimistic, but it was difficult given the nature of the situation.

After a few minutes the music changed, the familiar notes of Heroes by David Bowie began causing you and Gerard to look at each other.

“How dare they play this song?” You asked indignantly. “Now I’m even less remorseful for what we’re going to do.”

“Its still our song, it’s always gonna be ours,” he said turning to you, offering you his hand. You took it and he pulled you close. You danced like you did in the living room of his house. You rested your head against his shoulder and sighed. Why couldn’t it all be moments like this? Quiet, sweet moments, not loud violent scenes. But these people were killing innocent people, or allowing them to suffer at a profit. They had to be stopped and you had the ability to do just that.

When the song ended you looked up at Gerard and he kissed you one last time. “I think it’s time to go,” he said.

~

Gerard and you found Brendon in a back hallway.

"The CEO is coming in shortly, (YN) you know what to do,” Brendon said. You nodded in response. You hurried to your position near the women’s restroom.

The CEO of Restoricom was a toad of a human. Old, balding, with a disgusting habit of smoking smelly cigars where ever he went, regardless of regulations. You saw him approaching and he was luckily by himself. From halfway down the hall, you caught his eye.

“Excuse me sir, can I bother you for a moment?” You asked in your best seductive voice, but you felt disgusting.

“As many moments as you need,” he replied and you could feel your skin crawl.

“My friend is in the bathroom and her dress is caught. I can’t seem to fix it, can you try with your strong hands?”

He hummed and looked you up and down. “What kind of fun you two having in there?”

“Come find out,” you purred.

He followed you into the bathroom and you could see Sarah had appeared, as a pair of high heels was visible under the far stall of the bathroom.

“She’s waiting for you in the last stall,” you said and he sauntered up. You wondered how this vile old bastard didn’t see this coming.

“Hello gorgeous,” he said as he walked into the stall. Sarah didn’t respond, the only sound was the large body hitting the floor.

You pulled your phone out of your purse and texted Gerard that the coast was clear. He came in quickly.

“Are you ok?” He asked as soon as he saw you.

“Yea, he didn’t lay a hand on me. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll skip watching you make this transformation.”

He laughed and you turned your back. “Ok, I’m going in there,” he said in the same sleazy voice of the CEO and you heard the door shut behind him, then Brendon came in.

“Nicely done, ladies,” he said looking at the figure on the floor.

“I know he’s a disgusting old fuck, but I still feel… not bad, but, I don’t know,” you struggled.

“Don’t feel bad,” Sarah said sweetly. “His time was almost up anyway. Special priority for gross pigs.”

Brendon pulled a baggie of a white substance and placed a bit near his nose and on the toilet seat.

“Heart attack brought on by an OD, right love?”

“Even the best coroner will believe it.”

“You’re the best,” he said with a wink at Sarah. You smiled and rolled your eyes, feeling like quite the third wheel suddenly. “Ok, time for phase two. Let’s see if those bastards can take the last chance they’re being offered.”

Gerard was in the room being used for the board meeting. He looked at the faces of the men who looked just like the man he was pretending to be.

“Gentlemen, I’ve had an epiphany. Our image is in need of a revitalization. I propose in the next fiscal year, we start focusing on more charitable efforts.” He could barely get the words out before the roar of laughter erupted from the men at the table.

“Jesus man, what kind of hippie shit is that little mistress of yours slipping you?” One man near the front asked.

“It will be better for the bottom line in the long term-” Gerard started before he was interrupted again.

“Who gives a fuck? What matters is now,” said another.

Gerard looked over the room. “Well gentlemen, so be it.” And he began to transform into the most fearsome, demonic creature he could imagine. Looming over the table, the men began cowering in fear at the creature with bat like wings, horns, and red glowing eyes gnashing its teeth at them.

Suddenly the doors swung open, and you and Brendon strode in, gas masks covering both of your faces. Brendon pulled his mask up and looked at the scene in front of him.

“Ok baby, they’re ready for you,” he shouted. The men all looked at him dumbfounded. While they were distracted, Gerard changed into a small fly and flew out into the hall. You stepped back outside the door as Brendon pulled his gas mask back on and flipped the switch in his pocket, which began the flow of toxin into the room. Where Gerard had been standing, Sarah appeared, smiling sweetly at the men at first, but then her face turned dark and furious.

“You have played with death at your own profit for too long. Now it is my turn to restore balance!” She roared.

Brendon blew her a kiss as he backed out the door. You heard the lock turn from the inside as you and Brendon took off running for the exit.

Once outside you pulled the gas mask off and took a big gulp of fresh air. The majority of the party goers, lower level employees of Restoricom, would learn soon enough of the fate of the leadership of the company. Sarah would make it appear to be a carbon monoxide leak and no one should suspect a thing of the three strangers no one could remember seeing before that night.

A press release was issued the next morning indicating that the direction the CEO, who was found “near” the women’s bathroom dead of a “heart attack”, wanted to take the company in a new, more charitable direction, instituting a free immunization program for children and exponentially growing their research department for new and experimental cures for many varieties of diseases.

In the chaos of the evening, Pete was able to get in and completely wiped the system of the division that was trying to eliminate magic and utilize seers. That portion of the CEOs notes did not make the external press release, but you were finally free to stop running, to stop looking over your shoulder at every turn.

~

The ride back to Gerard’s house was quiet. Gerard had given you his suit jacket to keep warm, and you wrapped your arms tightly around yourself. It didn’t sit quite right to you that the greedy bastards had paid with their lives for their crimes, but no one truly knew what they did. You had forced a lot of positive changes, but people who didn’t deserve the credit would be remembered for more than the slime that they were. You let the side of your head hit the glass. You wanted to do more, somehow, but what more could be done.

“You ok, Sugar?” Gerard asked from the driver’s seat with a worried tone.

“It’s over, but it doesn’t feel done,” you replied. “We aren’t going to be chased, but it’s been weeks, it’s all the life I know now. Do I try to go get a regular job again? Do I go back to my place? What will everyone else think of what we’ve done?” All of the thoughts and worries come tumbling out of your mouth as the tears well up and you choked out a sob.

Gerard pulled over to the side of the country road and reached over to hold you close as you sobbed into his shoulder.

“It’s ok Sugar, it’s ok. We’ll figure it out,” he replied quietly, rubbing your back.

After a few minutes your sobs calmed down and he pulled back.

“Come on, let’s go home,” he said and you nodded and he placed a kiss on your lips. The conflicted emotions you felt were matched in Gerard, but he only felt guilt for putting you through this. He wished there was any other way this could have happened. He pulled back onto the road home and hoped there was any way you could love him after all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, part 2 is in the works now!


End file.
